Hi All,

Playing at Horseshoe Baltimore which has a mississippi straddle. 280 effective with MP (Hero Covers)

I straddle CO 6
Button fold, SB fold, BB call, UTG call, MP raises to 14, HJ call, Hero defends J5o, both limpers call.

Flop (71) J95cc

UTG bets 15, MP raises to 45, Villain raises to 100, UTG folds, MP shoves for 220, we call.

Turn (526) A,
River X

Villain has AJ.

In game I assumed the limpers would call the raise to 14 and give we already had 6 invested we are getting a great price to call already, and even better if both limpers are going to call. That said, unsuited is this just a fold pre? Once we straddle how wide should we be defending, especially when we will be last to act post flop?

Really the most curious about pre flop, but thoughts on flop also welcome. Thanks in advance!

The reason I don't straddle is that it gets me into situations where, like you, I make the best decisions I can, but lose pots that I would never have been in otherwise. Flopping 2P doesn't guarantee you a win and 2P with Motown is easily counterfeited.



I don't think there is any good reason to straddle unless you do it from the button and the table is massively timid and you are trying to loosen them up by showing lots of bluffs. That is extremely rare. Let others loosen the table. I haven't straddled since I got serious about trying to improve my game.

fold pre it's lighting money on fire by calling a raise with J5o.

J5 is a trash hand so if you want to call, then you are calling for some reason other than value/card advantage.

Card strength = lousy.
Position = best.
odds = very good/excellent.
multiway factor = not good.
fish factor = unknown

If I understand correctly you were being offered 6-1 when you called and ultimately got 9-1 going to the flop.
I don't see how you can turn down those odds.

This is part of the problem with straddling, you end up throwing good money after bad.

Going 4 way to the flop in a big pot with J5o is not going to be good 95% of the time, but this time it was.

I would want some reason to believe that you may be able to outplay everyone postflop in addition to the odds. That's what I call fish factor.

You're def going to hear the 'fold pre' a lot in these parts .. I'm not going to say 'never', but I'm also going to say 'proceed with caution' in these spots.

Is the action missing you flatting a 3-bet? So it went 15 to 45 to 100 and you flatted before the UTG fold. Or are you the V?

No matter the action, this is a lot of action. You almost have no choice AP once you are going to be HU if you call it off.

I'm skewed by my PLO play, but top and bottom pair are dust usually in these action spots. Depending on suits you are around 33% against Jx and 8T/QT. J9 is a popular holding as well .. and we've not even sprinkled in the flush draws and/or sets. While you are probably around 70% once you get HU this is still a lot of BB to put in the middle.

There's an old saying .. small hand, small pot and so on .. While you do have two pair, it's still a small hand and you want to keep the pot under control if you can. I wouldn't be raising to 45 or 100 in this spot even with a POW or mouth-breather in the hand.

Yes, we would not recommend that AJ spaz out here either against this Board so they are really forcing the issue from behind. You've not really given us any reads either. It's certainly not uncommon for a Player to overplay TPTK in low stakes poker.

I put these spots into the same area as set mining with 22-55 .. you want to be sure that you're getting 'way more' implied odds than a normal set mine because you are going to have cases where you're going to get out-drawn on and lose your stack. Did you have that? Yes, but it just didn't work out this time.

Multi-way this is a mess once the pot gets bigger .. that you got it HU is a call all day AP. GL

I wouldn't straddle.

I would completely remove the word "defend" from my poker vocabulary, especially in any LLSNL game worth playing, especially if you are currently having difficulties winning (i.e. if you're currently having difficulty winning at LLSNL it is likely in large part because you "defend" too much). I fold preflop.

Are we the Villain again? Your HHs are confusing regarding Hero and Villain.

I think I'm ok with the flop raise. Flatting would probably offer the donker far too good of odds to continue, so we probably just want to raise an amount that MP's TP can call before the board gets stoopider. At this SPR we're simply committed so we should feel pretty comfortable stacking off against the preflop raiser (although we'd feel slightly less comfortable stacking off against preflop callers, but even against them it would be a difficult fold at this SPR). Also happily calling the shove.

What happens after our final decision points is irrelevant.

GcluelessNLnoobG

You're correct...It should say Hero Bets 100...Sorry for the typo

Tough spot as indicated .. you really need to make your mind up right now if you are taking this the distance or not. There are so many bad Turn cards with straights, flushes and over-cards that calling the 45 and then maybe folding on a bad Turn seems a bit spewy. What are you doing if UTG is the one that shoves the Flop or if either Player shoves the Turn?

You're really just reaching out in the dark and hoping to find the light switch and not the socket.

So many what-ifs .. If I think that UTG is donking a draw AND MP is steaming or is in love with TPTK, then perhaps you just shove Flop? But that allows both opponents to play perfect and you have to live with the results.

On this Board I think I flat the 45 and hate the Ace .. then you have to look at the suits of the other cards and figure out if either V only has one pair of Aces or is now in the lead somehow. GL